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A Few Thoughts on Repentance

5th August 2022

Why do most, if not all, Christians find repentance difficult?

To understand this, it might be helpful firstly if we understand that to repent is not the same thing as to stop sinning. The Greek word for repentance in the New Testament is "metanoia". "Meta" means "beside" or "changed" and "noia" means "mind". So to repent is to change ones mind, to think differently. Repentance is what we do before we change our actions. This is how it happens: When we change what we believe, we begin to act differently.

For example, when a child learns that eating mud makes him ill, he'll generally stop doing it. When a young driver learns that car insurance is much more expensive if you've had a few accidents, he'll start to drive more carefully. We act according to what we believe. When our beliefs change, our actions change. When a Christian reads the Bible, and finds something he didn't believe before, he should change his mind, and that should lead to a changed life.

So, actually, if you're a Christian, you've probably repented more than you think you have. You've changed your world view, but your new, and continually-changing, world view has not yet fully worked through into your actions. All genuine repentance will result in a changed life but, if you're a Christian or any well-meaning person, you may be wondering why there still seems to be a significant gulf between your beliefs and your actions. I suggest three possible reasons:

Firstly: A conflict of beliefs

Sometimes our actions don't fully reflect our new beliefs because our beliefs conflict with each other. An alcoholic may come to believe that alcohol is killing him, and it would be wise to stop, but he might also believe that he can't stop. Without proper support, that might be true. He'll probably feel like he can't stop. So he has two competing beliefs, both of which may or may not be correct. And he'll choose to act on one belief and ignore the other, or he'll live a life of great internal conflict, trying to act according to both beliefs.

A Christian may believe that regular Sunday Church attendance is a very good thing. He or, more usually, she may also believe that keeping ones marriage partner happy is also a good thing. So, if a Christian is married to a person who disapproves of the church, or who wants to go on a family Sunday picnic, he or she will again find a conflict of beliefs.

There are many other situations where we feel we "just can't win", as the saying goes. We can act according to one belief but not the other, or we can vacillate between the two. At this point, we do well if we decide which belief is more important, and act accordingly.

Secondly: Habits are addictive

The example of the alcoholic presents our second reason why we don't always act according to our beliefs: we're addicted to the old actions. They have such a chemical or, at least, psychological hold on us that it's difficult to break free from them. There's a reason why some people call drug addiction a drug "habit". Some non-chemical habits are also addictive. We get some sort of reaction or comfort from them, which is powerful or comforting enough that they're difficult to change even if our beliefs have changed.

Why do you suppose some people enjoy gossiping, or criticising other people? It gives them a fleeting and illusory sense of superiority over others, which helps them to feel better about themselves. Christians can read their Bibles and know that God forbids gossip and judgementalism, but it can feel so good to hurt another person's reputation, that some Christians carry on doing it for years.

Thirdly: Persecution

A third reason why our actions don't always reflect our beliefs is the fear of persecution. It's not easy for a Christian in some communist or Muslim-majority countries to obey all the Bible. It's not easy for a Christian in some British atheist families, or some schools, or with some employers, to do so.


So there are various reasons why we repent more than we change. But having understood the difference between a change of mind and a change of action, and having seen how it can be difficult for one to translate into the other, we can't just settle for failure, as if it doesn't matter. It's a matter of integrity to act according to our beliefs. Any less is hypocrisy, isn't it?

Trying and failing to break free of sinful habits can be heartbreaking and leave us feeling like guilty failures. But God knows our heart, and He understands, and He forgives, and He sends His Holy Spirit to help us.

Finally, let's briefly consider the question of why it can also be difficult to repent at all – to change our minds in the first place – which is the prerequisite for our actions to change. Here are three possible reasons:

Firstly, doubts about the Bible

If your church, your teachers or your friends have taught you that the Bible is mistaken, fallible or out-of-date, they've done you a grave injury. If you really believe that your own grasp of ethics, or theirs, is better than God's holy word, then you won't change your mind when you read it.

Secondly, unenlightened self-interest

There can be incentives not to change my beliefs. If I believe that my money is mine, for me to do with as I wish, then it's easy to see that I have a strong motivation to continue to believe that, whether or not the Bible teaches generosity, or even tithing. If my sexual or relational desires might not be sanctioned by the Bible, I might be tempted to ignore, or explain away, the passages that forbid them. If my friends insist that I join them in some sinful activity, the fear of losing those friends my dissuade me from changing those actions.

Of course, obedience to God is more blessed than disobedience. We can all accept that principle in the abstract, but it can be hard to apply it in circumstances where we feel like it's going to cost us too much.

Thirdly, intellectual heritage

If you've believed something for a very long time, you tend not to question it.

Those of us who live and worship in the context of a comparatively young denomination, can wonder why it is that (at least in their eyes) other, more ancient denominations can get their theology and practice so wrong. The answer, at least in part, is that when you, and people you respect, and whose books you've read and found helpful, have believed a thing for hundreds of years, it feels at least a bit presumptuous to say that they're all wrong and you're right. It can feel a bit insecure; can you really be sure they are wrong? Much safer to continue to parrot the denominational line and keep your head down.

And if my teachers are right about many things, should I not trust that they're right about everything? The answer to that is definitely "No!" No-one is right about everything, and nor is any church, or any denomination or any movement. Only God's theology is perfect. We should continually and deliberately seek a better understanding of God's teaching.

Take Martin Luther as perhaps the best example, or the best since Christ. The world is much better place, and the church is a much more loving and Godly community, because Luther refused the false teaching of the church he grew up in. In much smaller and less consequential ways, we too can make a difference by seeking truth and standing up for it, even when it brings conflict in our churches. But for God's sake, do so with humility and kindness.

Some of us who were brought up in atheistic or agnostic families and peer groups will have learnt a number of ideas, which we probably believed because our friends and authority figures also believed them, but which are contrary to Scripture. We may have believed them for so long that we don't even realise we've taken them into our belief system. We may not be conscious of them at all, or we may think of them as self-evident, or obviously true, when they're not.

Here are a few:

There are plenty of other examples, and I think we all have some of these non-Biblical ideas embedded in our subconscious.

The only cure for this is to read the Bible regularly, carefully and with an open mind. I suggest that, if you haven't already done you, you repent – change your mind – think differently – enough to believe this: "If what the Bible says is different from what I believe, then I am wrong, and need to change my mind".